J. SMITH ON THE GENERA OF FERNS. 167 



Fronds pinnatifid or pinnate, rarely simple or bipinnatijid, 

 segments of the sterile fronds entire or serrulate, apices of the 

 venules clavate, terminating in the margin, which is often carti- 

 laginous and slightly revolute; fertile segments linear^ becom- 

 ing wholly covered by the confluent sporangia. 



Examp. 1. L. Patersoni, (Z2. Br.') 2. L. lanceolata, (R. 

 Br.) 3. L. fluviatilis, {R. Br.) 4. L. onocleoides, Spreng. 

 5. L. Boiyana, JVilld. 6. L. discolor, Willd. 7. L. spicans, 

 Desv. 8. L. procera, {R. Br.) 9. L. Chilensis, Kaulf. 

 10. L. Fraserii, A. Cunn. 



Illust. Schk. crypt, t. 110. Hook. Gen. Fil. t. 64. B. 



Obs. This is a very natural genus, containing a consider- 

 able number of species of great uniformity of habit, distin- 

 guished from Pteris by the fertile fronds being contracted, 

 with the sporangia seated on a broad thickened receptacle; 

 but there are exceptions to either of these characters being 

 truly definite; for the fertile fronds of Pteris crenata, hetero- 

 phylla, and some others, are contracted, and in Lomaria Gil- 

 liesii, Fraserii, and others, the receptacle is narrow and seated 

 in the immediate axis of the indusium, but in no instance is 

 the sporangia seated on the base of the indusium as in many 

 species of Pteris. The broad receptacle, which is the true 

 character of the genus, has great analogy to the amorphous 

 receptacle of Acrostichiece, with which tribe Lomaria forms a 

 transition through Stenochlana. 



63. Blechnum, Linn. 

 (Sadleria, Kaulf.) 



Veins forked; venules (sterile,) direct, free; fertile vemdes 

 combined near their base by a transverse sporangiferous re- 

 ceptacle, constituting a linear continuous costal sorus ; indusi- 

 um linear, plain, conniving with the costa. 



Fronds pinnatifid or pinnate, rarely simple or bipinnatifid, 

 generally smooth, with entire or serrulate margins; soriferous 

 receptacle crossing the veins at their point of forking, ivhich is 

 usually close to the midrib; sori sometimes interrupted and 

 seated some distance from the midrib. 



